980 Ti

Just chiming in after some more SLi 980ti 4K usage.

Loving these cards. BF4 Ultra is SMOOTH, locked at 60FPS with no dips. I had to crank 4x AA down to 2x AA as I'd get an occasional dip into the low/mid 50s on certain maps during smoke/explosions.

Good stuff. Need to play some other games some more. Cards stay pretty quiet.
 
For those of you in Europe, mindfactory.de has a great selection of tis and great prices (good customer service too I heard).

Just installed my Inno3d 980 ti OC (not the Ultra X3) and while the fans don't stop spinning on idle (boo) they are inaudible and remain quiet (but of course slightly audible) under Furmark (but the card does reach 78-80c, which I don't mind at all but I suppose that mean it might throttle in some situations).
 
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WorldExclusive said:
Did we read the same review?

I didn't see anything underwhelming, especially at 4K. +/- 2dBA between other aftermarket coolers isn't noisy considering it has three 100mm fans.
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Initially I thought the same, but...

10'C+ hotter on load than other non-reference cards.

FWIW ACX 2.0+ is proving to be the quietest (not necessarily coolest) non-reference 980 Ti cooling solution as of right now unless the Galax HOF surprises us all. It's a shame that the eVGA boards are mostly reference, but noise levels for the custom Classified and Kingpin look promising if the smaller ACX 2.0+ is any indication.
 
friend'scatdied said:
Initially I thought the same, but...

10'C+ hotter on load than other non-reference cards.
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At which fan speed and clocks the others run at?

The STRIX runs at 46% out of the box with a 20-24% factory OC.
On my own over the years, I would run about 70% fan speed at load on my cards with OC.

ASUS is going for semi-passive cooling, which is giving higher temps.
If we could compare cards at the same clocks and fans speeds, we will know which one performs better. I would like to know.

MSI, Giga, Zotac or ASUS, which ever is better I would buy it.
 
As predicted, while the heatsink does look like it's a very nice onc, it does not have a heat spreader so it's no better at cooling than a reference card with only three bars touching the chip. ASUS fail.
 
WorldExclusive said:
At which fan speed and clocks the others run at?

The STRIX runs at 46% out of the box with a 20-24% factory OC.
On my own over the years, I would run about 70% fan speed at load on my cards with OC.

ASUS is going for semi-passive cooling, which is giving higher temps.
If we could compare cards at the same clocks and fans speeds, we will know which one performs better. I would like to know.

MSI, Giga, Zotac or ASUS, which ever is better I would buy it.
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How is it semi-passive when it has three honking 100m fans on it? 46% appear to be similar to the MSI auto profile.

On my MSI, I set my fan to 70% starting at 65 degrees with an overclock of +120 mhz, and it doesn't go over 71 degrees. I highly doubt that at 70% fan speed and a +120mhz OC, the Asus would even go below 80 degrees.
 
WorldExclusive said:
At which fan speed and clocks the others run at?

The STRIX runs at 46% out of the box with a 20-24% factory OC.
On my own over the years, I would run about 70% fan speed at load on my cards with OC.

ASUS is going for semi-passive cooling, which is giving higher temps.
If we could compare cards at the same clocks and fans speeds, we will know which one performs better. I would like to know.

MSI, Giga, Zotac or ASUS, which ever is better I would buy it.
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Are you defining "better" by the cooling solution alone?

Until there's more info on the Zotac, only the Gigabyte G1, eVGA Classy, and Galaxy HOF will have >109/110 power target. Custom PCBs with a single BIOS and the same power restrictions as reference cards makes no sense.
 
Cyph said:
How is it semi-passive when it has three honking 100m fans on it? 46% appear to be similar to the MSI auto profile.

On my MSI, I set my fan to 70% starting at 65 degrees with an overclock of +120 mhz, and it doesn't go over 71 degrees. I highly doubt that at 70% fan speed and a +120mhz OC, the Asus would even go below 80 degrees.
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Like I said, I would like to see this card tested at a higher fan speed to compare with MSI, Zotac and Giga.
70% fan speed at 1400MHz is a good starting point.
 
MrMike said:
Are you defining "better" by the cooling solution alone?

Until there's more info on the Zotac, only the Gigabyte G1, eVGA Classy, and Galaxy HOF will have >109/110 power target. Custom PCBs with a single BIOS and the same power restrictions as reference cards makes no sense.
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If you really want more power, you can just apply a custom BIOS. I question spending $50 or $100 more to gain 100mhz of OC. I can run stock voltage and hit 1474, with the power target maxing out at 101%. Pushing 30% more power for an extra 100mhz (and paying an additional $100) doesn't make much sense to me unless you're using LN2.
 
MrMike said:
Are you defining "better" by the cooling solution alone?

Until there's more info on the Zotac, only the Gigabyte G1, eVGA Classy, and Galaxy HOF will have >109/110 power target. Custom PCBs with a single BIOS and the same power restrictions as reference cards makes no sense.
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Better as in highest OC, with low noise and temps.
So if the MSI card can get 1500MHz with 70% fan speed and sub 70C temps, I think that's pretty good.
If the ASUS can get 1500Mhz with 70% fan speed at 80C and then throttles, I think that's not so good.
 
Cyph said:
If you really want more power, you can just apply a custom BIOS. I question spending $50 or $100 more to gain 100mhz of OC. I can run stock voltage and hit 1474, with the power target maxing out at 101%. Pushing 30% more power for an extra 100mhz (and paying an additional $100) doesn't make much sense to me unless you're using LN2.
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Where is this $50-$100?

The MSI Gaming 6G being discussed is $680. The Gigabyte G1 $690. The Classified and HOF are $700.

If you're happy with 1.4GHz that's cool, but I agree with WorldExclusive's target here.

WorldExclusive said:
Better as in highest OC, with low noise and temps.
So if the MSI card can get 1500MHz with 70% fan speed and sub 70C temps, I think that's pretty good.
If the ASUS can get 1500Mhz with 70% fan speed at 80C and then throttles, I think that's not so good.
Click to expand...

Ah understood. Aiming for a solid cooler at 1.5GHz is pretty normal. I think the HOF or G1 are safe bets but are likely to be noisy. The Classy is a maybe, but eVGA's new fans are quiet and the noise isn't unpleasant.
 
Temp Target 85 Degrees C
CPU clock +50 MHz (from default 1216 MHz)
Mem clock +400 MHz
Voltage + 87Mv
FAN RPM 55% (recommended but a tiny bit more noisy)

The thermal limit causes it to max out at 50 core but requires +87mv. The extra voltage allows it to hit 1493, but look at the hills and valleys. The throttling is no good. You want it as flat a hill as possible.

Strix
index.php


MSI Gaming
index.php


Based on the graphs, the MSI is the far superior card. You get smoother and better minimum frame rates. This is the reason to keep stock voltage, cooler temperature, giving up a higher max but maintaining a higher and more stable minimum frame rate.
 
Cyph said:
Based on the graphs, the MSI is the far superior card. You get smoother and better minimum frame rates. This is the reason to keep stock voltage, cooler temperature, giving up a higher max but maintaining a higher and more stable minimum frame rate.
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Yes, the throttling is what I'm concerned about. As you said, to pay $50 more for a card that may throttle doesn't make sense.

Are the ASIC scores above 70% on MSI cards?
I know Giga was around 60-65%.
 
Cyph said:
As predicted, while the heatsink does look like it's a very nice onc, it does not have a heat spreader so it's no better at cooling than a reference card with only three bars touching the chip. ASUS fail.
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It would be interesting if they use the same cooler for the Fury Strix. It would be the reverse of what happened with them recycling the 780 DirectCU on the 290X in terms of consequences.
 
Cyph said:
As predicted, while the heatsink does look like it's a very nice onc, it does not have a heat spreader so it's no better at cooling than a reference card with only three bars touching the chip. ASUS fail.
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There is a lot of talk that he got a faulty unit and or a improper thermal paste/badly seated heatsink with the Asus as the KitGuru review is NO WHERE near as hot running or as loud
 
Agreed, definately something wrong on guru's card there. No way any non ref should go that high in games. It ran hotter then my top card...


Finally closed the case to see how temps go. Pretty happy with the results.

1430mhz on both, 1.205v locked. 2 intakes 1 exhaust on case with a room temperature of 27C (hot here fml) => 80C / 73C (top / bottom) after one hour of GTA V. :D

37 / 30 idle, now with 25C in room.

 
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seanclayton said:
Is there an air-cooled 980 ti cooler that doesn't run hot and loud? Regretting that MSI card right now.
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Your card must be defective or you have poor case airflow. Left on auto fan, I have never even hit 80 C at max benchmarking/testing OC WAY over 1500 and never once heard it over my other fans. Even 100% fan speed is not all that loud and probably less noisy than 60% on the reference 980 Ti.
 
misterbobby said:
Your card must be defective or you have poor case airflow. Left on auto fan, I have never even hit 80 C at max benchmarking/testing OC WAY over 1500 and never once heard it over my other fans. Even 100% fan speed is not all that loud and probably less noisy than 60% on the reference 980 Ti.
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I agree, mine at 100% sounds about the same as my Asus DCII 290 at 55% fan. Which means it is audible, but can barely be heard over my case fans with the case closed up.
 
I have a silent build, so the fan noise is too easy to notice. I'm also getting coil whine, so I guess I'm gonna ask for a refund.
 
seanclayton said:
Is there an air-cooled 980 ti cooler that doesn't run hot and loud? Regretting that MSI card right now.
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My classified runs quite silent at default out of box specs. Boosts to 1380-1406, temperatures of 75C and fan around 45-50% which is not audible over case fans.
 
seanclayton said:
I have a silent build, so the fan noise is too easy to notice. I'm also getting coil whine, so I guess I'm gonna ask for a refund.
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You should. In any case, if you have a silent build then you're going to need a watercooled card or run at stock speeds. The 980 Ti is a hot chip and the coolers which are mostly just 980 coolers, are barely up to the task.
 
I did not have 970 so I never experienced coil whine, also I have a relatively decent PSU (Corsair RM750) so how will I know if I have coil whine? Sorry if that's a stupid question :)
 
I'm quite happy with my Inno3d 980 ti I must say (coming from MSI 970). Fans can reach 50% (about 1900-2000 rpm) under Furmark or something very GPU intensive like Star Citizen but it's not horrible noise, it's just air, not high pitched or anything (and no vibrations), so basically with headphones it's a non-issue. My boost clock is 1250 out of the box (was sold as boosting to 1127 but okay, I'm not gonna complain!). If I downclocked it to reference clocks it would probably be inaudible in many games since it only really becomes audible at around 45%. And this is summer, it probably will run quieter in winter :p

Temps are generally 70-75c when gaming, reaches 80c in Furmark only. I've tested many games and it kept the 1250 clock at all times, only on Furmark did I see it throttle.

Oh and the VRAM difference coming from a 970 is huge, for me at least it's a really big deal.

edit : the noise I'm hearing is also probably the PSU to be fair, my 560w Seasonic X-Series is being hammered and the fan has to spin up accordingly.
 
I got my EVGA 980ti ACX my favorite card ever...... I like the fans in idle I like the words on the side EVGA lit up. I almost had problem sticking the bastard in my case a Coolermaster Enforce it's really really tight have less then 1/4 to spare otherwise I would have to move my Hard drives which would involve a lot of work since I have 5 of them I would have to move the SSDs drive to the bottom and take away one HDD drive just to make space thank god I didn't get the Classified EVGA otherwise I would have to move them for sure.
 
After a few days with my EVGA 980Ti Hybrid, I love this thing. I am going through a few of the games I own and turning everything to max and it all runs great :). I think I finally have the card that is perfectly matched to my monitor that runs at 2560x1600. I always felt my old 970 struggling at this resolution, for Batman AK I had to play it at 1920x1200 or it was just a slideshow in parts.

Water cooling rocks. I have yet to break 50c when playing. I maxed out at 49c so far. It is silent for me also. Though OC-ing wise I have only pushed the chip to 1470 which with no added voltage in afterburner just the default power set to 110%, is a bit unstable in some games. But I am currently set at 1453 and that is completely stable so far so I am going to stick with it for now. I am sure there is a higher spot I can reach between 1453-1470 but I don't want to go looking for it now or play with the core voltage param at the moment.
 
So here are my overall impressions summarized for the 980 Ti. I give this upgrade a "holy shite I didn't expect that much awesome" rating.

Coming from 970 SLi, I had mixed thoughts about going this route. Needless to say I was proven wrong every step of the way. I am even tempted to only keep a single Classified 980 Ti since honestly speaking I don't have any need for a second card. At 1440P with 4xMSAA or equivalent and max details in all of my latest games, the card matches or beats the 970 SLi. Let me explain this since it is important.

Yes, I am getting about 3-5 fps lower than my 970 SLi setup but actually in terms of IQ I am able to now bump up my resolution to 1440P for ALL the games I am playing right now. Some examples below.

Witcher 3. I was running this at 1080P max details and it was running at 60-70 fps pegged to a monkey's bottom. However, when I bumped the graphics up to 1440P, I faced occasional stutter. Typically, it was due to VRAM limitation. When ram hit around 3.7 gig mark even the SLi failed. Now I can push 1440P no problems and no stutters. FPS hover from 45-60 fps depending on scene and amount of stuff going on the screen. However, the occasional stutter is gone completely.

Mordor. This game was bane of 970 cards. Typically with Ultra the amount of VRAM required was about 3.6-3.8 gigs. Anything around resolution (150% of 1080P/1440P mark) would cause occasional stutter especially when explosions happened. Guess what? This is all fixed now. No issues whatsoever and game runs fine on resolution closes to 1440P that I can select in the menu.

Dying Light. HOLY CRAP. Compared to my 970 SLi, this game just runs phenomenal at 1440P. Something that was impossible on the 970 SLi again due to VRAM issues. Now I am running around owning bitches at 1440P with maxed out in game details and it looks stunning.

GTA V. This game ran like a champ with 970 SLi. No stutters, no issues. Played it all the way through like that. Going to a 980 Ti has lowered my frame rate generally, however, it is bearable and I lost anywhere about 3-8 fps across the board. No sacrifices made. With 970 SLi I was hovering around 60-75 fps. With the single card I am about 55-65 fps.

Arkham Knight. I know, not a fair comparison since SLi does not work but I moved from 1080P to 1440P with max details and game ofcourse no longer stutters and just runs like a champ all around.

There are a few games that I need to test some more. These include Farcry 4 and Ass Creed Unity. I am guessing my experience would be the exact same and I will have no issues with a single 980 Ti boosting to around 1400 on the core at default speeds, running silent and pushing frames like a champ.

I also think this was a great side grade since it cost me absolutely zero out of pocket. If anything I may have made 10-20 bucks in the process lol. For now, there is no order placed for a second 980 Ti. The moment I need one, I will go out and buy one.

FWIW. YMMV.
 
Simplex said:
I did not have 970 so I never experienced coil whine, also I have a relatively decent PSU (Corsair RM750) so how will I know if I have coil whine? Sorry if that's a stupid question :)
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Coil whine is a noise that doesn't sound like a fan. Its a consistent high pitched whine sound when the card is under stress.

Here is a video of it. In that video it wasn't as consistent as when i've had it. I have a 970 under water and noctua fans, so I am very easily bothered by any coil whine. Fortunately my 970 doesn't have it. My 290x had it pretty bad.
 
KickAssCop said:
So here are my overall impressions summarized for the 980 Ti. I give this upgrade a "holy shite I didn't expect that much awesome" rating.



FWIW. YMMV.
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So what one are you using now? I'm so disgusted with beinga 980Ti guinea pig after my MSI turned out to be a bust last night and my Gigabyte was poor in quality, im just gonna limp along with my trusty STRIX 980 as best I can
 
KickAssCop said:
I have a 980 Ti Classified.
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I thought you wern't happy with that one either and the overclock was crap? Or was it someone else here? Fuck, the last 2 weeks with this Ti exchange and RMA game has really fucking worn me out....I nearly wanted to throw up when my MSI 980 Ti didnt' perform hardly any better then my 980, even after I fucking rebuilt windows outa desperation
 
doug_7506 said:
Coil whine is a noise that doesn't sound like a fan. Its a consistent high pitched whine sound when the card is under stress.

Here is a video of it. In that video it wasn't as consistent as when i've had it. I have a 970 under water and noctua fans, so I am very easily bothered by any coil whine. Fortunately my 970 doesn't have it. My 290x had it pretty bad.
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Thanks a lot for a nice explanation and the video. That sound would drive me insane :D
So if I wanted to check if my card has coil whine I should try to generate as much fps as possible?
 
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